Fated
by DeadlyDevotion
Summary: Sakura has been hiding Syaoran from the world, sacrificing her whole life in order to protect him. But neither her affection nor his twin brother’s determination can change Syaoran's fate. Especially in a world set on seeing the three of them dead SSS
1. Chapter 1

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_If you've never read one of my stories before I equate Li = R!Syaoran and Syaoran=C!Syaoran. Though, I hope you can tell from the characterization who is who anyways...  
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Li held his brother's hand tightly in his own as the two walked down the hallway together. Syaoran's hand remained limp in his as usual, but the lack of presence was made up for in the way Syaoran walked very close to Li. Li smiled a little when he noticed.

"I just have to attend this meeting and then we'll go home right away and have lunch," the ten year old told his brother. Syaoran was frowning and looking over his shoulder at the adults that were following them.

"I know you don't like them," Li whispered. "I don't either but it won't be for long. I didn't want to leave you by yourself at home."

Syaoran stared at his brother before lowering his eyes to the ground.

Since father had left them the MCA Organization depended a lot on Li. Giving them information, attending meetings, carrying on where his father left off…all that didn't bother Li that much since he followed his father's instruction to an art. It was his brother he was worried about. Syaoran was so sensitive and sure to get sick from being out of the house for so long. Even as he glanced at his twin, Syaoran looked to be getting paler as they walked.

Li hurriedly pressed his palm to the keypad and unlocked one of the meeting rooms, allowing the adults inside. As soon as they were all in Li shut the door, locked them in, and pulled his brother farther down the hall.

Syaoran glanced back at the fading room "Nii-san?" he questioned softly.

Li smiled. "It's alright. Fay's watching them on the security cameras."

Syaoran gave him a bewildered look which Li tried to ignore. Both of them knew his feelings towards Fay but Li was willing to look past his distrust in that person as long as it kept his brother safe.

"I'm going to take you to the safety room while I'm at the meeting."

"Alone?"

"If you stay with me you'll get sick. You've been out of the house too long as is it," Li said seriously. "The meeting won't take long. I promise."

Syaoran seemed to get paler.

The room that Li brought him to was usually the place that Li and Syaoran would stay in while father attended meetings. Even though this whole company was run by their father, there was still no guarantee that you could trust anyone. And since the twins were what the father cherished most, he had this room built especially for their sake. Syaoran particularly since father had made the air pure for his brother's weak body.

But now that Li had to take over his father's spot, Syaoran would be the only one to use it.

It looked more like a basement recreation room than anything. Giant TV, video games, sofas, endless games and toys and even a bed in the far corner. Li slowly released his brother's hand when they were inside and turned on the TV to the history channel.

"Your favorite documentary is on again today. You probably won't even realize I'm gone because you'll be so--"

"Why can't I stay with you?" Syaoran blurted at last.

"You'll get sick," Li said seriously.

"I don't feel sick."

"You never _feel_ sick," Li pointed out, frowning. "And you already look pale enough….here, come sit on the couch before you--"

"Please let me go with you, Nii-san."

Li smiled as he lead his brother to the couch. "I won't be gone for long." Syaoran still looked miserable and worried though. Li thought for a second before smiling more. "While I'm at the meeting you can call Sakura and see if she wants to come to our house for lunch."

Syaoran wanted to reach out for his brother but only watched as Li left. Once the door was locked he felt more alone than ever. If it wasn't enough that father was dead, now it seemed like Syaoran was constantly being torn away from his brother too. Syaoran feared that those people were going to kill Li too. He tried telling his fear to Li earlier but his brother said he should stop thinking about it, and told him that thinking about it would only make Syaoran feverish.

Syaoran went up to the door and reached for the handle, but then pulled back just as quick. If he went out there, he'd worry his brother more. Li was already upset that he was looking so ill….if he got more so, it'd only make his brother sad.

So Syaoran slowly left the door and headed for the phone instead.

Touya answered as usual. And as usual greeted him with a very dry "Oh. It's you. What do you want?"

Syaoran blushed. "….m-may I speak with Sakura-san?"

A long pause on the other end.

A very long pause on the other end.

"Oni-chan who is it?" Syaoran heard Sakura say in the background. "Oni-chan! Is that Syaoran?! It is, isn't it?!" There was some struggle and some call of monster before Sakura picked up the line. "Syaoran?!"

Syaoran coughed a bit before answering. "...yes"

"Sorry! Sorry! Oni-chan is being mean again! I knew it had to be you though because he always does the same thing whenever it is!" Sakura's voice slowly picked up into a cheerful tone. "Is everything okay? Why are you calling? Are you feeling ill again? I can hear you coughing! It doesn't sound good at all....! Would you like me to come over? Do you need some medicine? Some blankets? Are you warm? Cold? Sleepy?"

More coughing.

"S-syaoran?"

"…I don't know how to answer all those questions," he replied in embarrassment "You talk really fast."

Sakura giggled happily from the other side.

He cleared his throat "U-ummm...Nii-san--....Nii-san said I could call you to ask if you wanted to have lunch with us today."

"Of course I want to! You never have to ask that part!" she said playfully. "When should I come over?"

"I'm not sure. Nii-san is at a meeting right now."

"You're not home alone are you?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm in the safe room at the office." He glanced at the documentary about Clow Ruins and coughed again. "Nii-san said I'd get sick if I stayed with him."

Sakura paused. "Something's wrong. I can tell just from the tone of your voice," she said softly. "Please don't hide it?"

By now Syaoran wasn't surprised that Sakura could easily pick up what he was feeling. It was more of a relief actually and Syaoran could actually feel himself relax a little as he rested his head on the table and closed his eyes. Somehow Sakura was better at knowing what he was feeling than Nii-san even….

"….I'm worried about Nii-san." Syaoran whispered at last. "…I wanted to go with him but…because I'm so sick all the time….the only thing I'd do is worry him."

"Li is a very strong person," Sakura said brightly. "I'm sure he won't be away for long! Talk with me until then and I'll keep you company, alright?"

"I wish I was a strong person," he commented softly.

"You're strong too!"

"I'm not. I'm sick all the time, I never trained with father like Nii-san was able to, and I know nothing about father's business." Syaoran started coughing again as he spoke. "….I'm useless to Nii-san--"

"You're not! You're very important to him--the most important! And Li loves you very much!" Sakura voice became worried. "That cough really, really doesn't sound good. Are you laying down?"

"I'm fine." He coughed more though and started getting dizzy. "But..even if Nii-san does love me that doesn't change the fact that I'm useless to him…"

"Syaoran," Sakura scolded softly but her reprimand was blocked out by someone banging on the door. And it wasn't a knocking either. It was more like a body slamming against it. Several bodies. Voices could be heard on the other side and none of them were Nii-san.

"Syaoran? Syaoran?! Are you there?! What's going--?!"

He was choking now and barely spoke the words "--breaking in" before blood came spilling out of his mouth. He collapsed on the floor and the phone flying. Sakura's voice got louder as she called his name in a panic from the other end of the line.

Syaoran hurriedly wiped the blood from his mouth and dragged himself towards the phone. "S-someone's trying to break in," he said, between labored breaths.

"Hide!" she shouted, terrifying Syaoran. "Run! Get away from there!!!"

He tried to listen but Syaoran could only fall to the floor and continue to cough up blood as Sakura shouted and cried for him to get away. Nii-san would never let someone come near him, his hazy mind realized as arms pulled him into a crushing embrace. Especially shouting and banging like those people had been. Nii-san would just open the door if he wanted anything, he thought as he felt lips press repeatedly against his cheeks. If all this was happening....if those people were trying to get into the safe room...that meant....

Long before Syaoran heard the knock on the door, Li's battered body was left to bleed itself to death on the meeting room floor.

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	2. Chapter 2

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"That was seven years ago," Kurogane muttered, throwing down his newspaper. "They should just drop the damned case already. It's doing no one any good."

Fay laughed and placed a plate of food down in front of him. "You're the only one I know to take such a careless attitude towards a double homicide, Kuro-chan! So cynical."

"I'm not cynical," he snapped. "I'm practical. The two dead kids are going to remain dead. Finding out who did it won't help us now. We need to concentrate on the fucked up mess that's going on right now--not waste our time in the past."

"And he speaks so bluntly too!" Fay said cheerfully. "Salt or pepper?"

"Neither."

Fay added both.

Kurogane glared.

"Why do you even ask if you're just going to do what you want?!"

"I'm just curious to know." He took up the discarded newspaper with a grin.

Kurogane eyed the restaurant owner as he ate his meal. For the past seven months since he had been transferred here, the guy hadn't listened to a damned thing he said. And though Kurogane hated being ignored so blatantly, he silently admitted that the guy made the best food. And since Kurogane didn't cook himself, he'd come here for every meal. For the food. Definitely not the guy, he reminded himself.

The little diner had been run by Fay for many years now, from what he could tell. The place was usually packed but on a Sunday night it was dead. Kurogane sat at a stool at the counter as usual while Fay sat up onto of the counter near him. Fay usually tried to pry into things that were none of his blond-headed business, mostly about Magic Trappers, but he had given up for the moment and was content to annoy him by whistling.

"Why do you think people want to eat on your ass print?" he muttered after awhile.

"You don't seem put off by it."

"Gah!" Kurogane raised his dish off the counter as Fay laughed and flipped a page in the newspaper. When Kurogane attempted to put his dish down a distance away Fay said "I sat there too. And there. Yep! There too, Kuro-chan!"

"Don't you ever clean your counters?!"

"Me? No."

Kurogane made a face at the counters.

"I don't. The waitresses do," he corrected before calling out "Sakura-chan! Can you get some Windex for these counters?!"

"Coming, Fay-san!"

"You have someone working this late?"

"Sakura-chan is the girl renting the apartment above here so she helps late. You would know that if you came to visit me more often. But you're such a negligent boyfriend!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BOYFRIEND?!"

Fay laughed and ducked a napkin dispenser just as the waitress came running out of the backroom with a cheerful smile. Wrongly placed so late at night, Kurogane thought. She had a lot of energy too as she quickly and, seemingly happily, cleaned the counter free of prints in seconds flat.

"Done!"

Kurogane placed his food back down and Fay hopped his butt back up on the counter. "You can take off for the night now, Sakura-chan! You've been working hard today. Come join me and Kuro-puu."

"Kuro-puu?" she repeated curiously before glancing at him.

"Kurogane," he emphasized, shoving Fay off the counter.

Sakura smiled "Ah! Fay-san's boyfriend!"

Kurogane chucked another napkin dispenser as he dodged it and went into the backroom. What was that guy saying about them?!

"There is no boyfriend," Kurogane told her.

"You broke up?" Sakura questioned.

"NO!"

She looked utterly confused but Kurogane just rolled his eyes and went back to eating. He thought she had left too until he felt her sit beside him and take up the newspaper. On the front page was a picture of the twin boys that had been murdered seven years ago. Kurogane hadn't lived in this area then, but the damn thing was blasted to every city in the country. The girl seemed about seventeen, so there was a slight chance she remembered it. Probably didn't know them though. From what the paper said, that one boy was a shut-in because he was chronically ill.

For a long time the girl stared at the faces of the smiling brothers before saying "They're not dead, you know."

Kurogane looked up in question but Sakura was already gone.

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	3. Chapter 3

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"No."

"Li!"

"I already told you, I want nothing to do with the Order or the MCA anymore."

"But Kurogane-san can help! Then you and Syaoran won't have to hide anymore."

"We're not hiding," he said defensively. "We're just staying away from people that knew us."

"Hiding."

"There's nothing to talk about Sakura. I've already made my decision."

Syaoran, who had remained silent through their conversation noticed that Sakura-san was urging him with a look to say something. He felt bad about it but Syaoran dropped his eyes and watched Nii-san bandage up his wrist instead.

"Thank you for trying to help us," Li said more calmly. "Me and Syaoran owe you our lives for what you've done for us but--"

"You don't owe me anything! You're my best friends!" Syaoran blushed when Sakura brought him and his brother together in a tight hug.

"--but I'm done with the MCA. It's because I was concerned with trying to take up what father left behind that I put Syaoran in danger. Instead of being with him I wanted to be at that meeting. I'm never going to put anyone in front of us again. As long as we remain away from that country me and my brother will be safe. That's all I want."

Sakura silenced herself. Her and Syaoran watched Li as he finished tying up the bandage with an overly serious expression. After Li left the bedroom the two shared a look.

"…s-sorry. To put you in danger…" Syaoran stuttered.

"Huh?"

"By saying what you did…Kurogane-san might get the wrong idea."

Sakura shyly pushed her hair behind her ear "O-oh no! It's nothing! I'm sure it will be fine! If I can be around Fay-san without him knowing anything, then I'm sure I can do the same with Kurogane-san! I just wish that Li would have thought about it a little more before answering…"

"Nii-san is someone who doesn't have to think. He always knows what he wants, Sakura-san."

"And you?"

"Me?"

"Do you know what you want?"

Syaoran flushed when Sakura crawled closer to him in bed. His eyes nervously looked down to her hands that were using his thigh to brace herself up to him. He swallowed hard. "W-what I want?"

"Do you want to be in hiding?"

"O-oh." He gave a sheepish smile. "It doesn't matter to me where I am. As long as I have Nii-san and you with me, I'm happy."

Sakura flushed this time. "But neither of you belong here. And it's dangerous, especially with what you two have decided to do."

"But it's less dangerous for us here than it is up there."

"I don't like it. And I'm sure I'll never like it. And every time I come to see you and Li it only makes me more upset because I know that there's nothing I can do for you. I hate the feeling of not being with you two...." Sakura smiled sadly. "But...Since you and Li are happy then I'm happy too..."

"Sakura-san--"

"Guess what?! I brought more food supplies so Li can cook us something really delicious for dinner! I bought more clothes too. Look!" She happily dragged a large bag up from the floor onto the bed. "The food is in the kitchen so I'll make a snack for when you two come back! I know it won't be any good next to Li's so that's why I'm going to make it first! I also got some more books for you and some more paper for Li's ofuda and--"

"Y-you didn't have to do all of--!"

"Yes I did! If I didn't care of my best friends, who would? You two can barely take care of each other properly!" Syaoran blushed. "Every time I come here all your clothes are full of blood and barely staying on you! Oh! And I'm going to cut yours and his hair today too!"

"M-my hair?" He frowned as Sakura cheerfully pulled out a pair of scissors. "It's long?"

"It's not short." Syaoran stiffened when Sakura came against him to push her hands through his hair. "I've never cut hair before but it can't be that hard! And the last time you and Li cut each others' hair it turned out really ridiculous!"

As Sakura continued to run her fingers through his hair and decide how to cut it, Syaoran shyly raised his eyes to watch her. Even though they were sixteen now, he still felt extremely nervous around her. Sakura-san had always scared him when he was younger because she had so much energy and would do or say things he didn't understand. She wasn't like his brother at all. Nii-san was a very calm and straightforward person. Syaoran could always tell what Nii-san was thinking or feeling and why. But Sakura-san…she was very…..---

Syaoran blushed and nervously pulled her hands out of his hair and forced himself back. "I-I think I'm going to get dressed now. M-me and Nii-san have work to do."

"Already?!" Sakura pouted as Syaoran moved around her and got out of bed. "But you're still hurt!"

"I always get injured." He grinned and touched one of the many scars on his battered face. "Besides, I can't feel pain so it doesn't matter how many cuts I get."

"Yes it does!" Sakura knelt up on the bed and took his face in her hands. "Even though you can't feel it doesn't mean that it's not there! If you hurt yourself too much, or lose too much blood without knowing it, you'll--!"

"Nii-san is always with me. That will never happen."

"…even so…" Sakura gently pulled his face down until their cheeks were pressed together. "Even so…I still worry for you, Syaoran…"

Syaoran blushed in misery. "I-I'm sorry....it's because I'm weak..."

She paused. "What?"

"...If I was stronger then you wouldn't have to worry about--"

"--What?!" Sakura pulled back and looked up to him with a frown. "Of course I'd still worry about you! Even if you were the strongest person in the world I would still worry about you! No--if you were the strongest person in the world, I would worry for you more!"

He smiled sadly. "That's not true...even though me and my brother go through the same thing...it's always me you're concerned with." Sakura blushed and looked suddenly anxious. "It's because he's so strong, right?"

"T-that's not really why I--...I-I mean...I worry for Li too!"

"But because I'm weak you have to worry about me twice as much. Please forgive me, Sakura-san, for making you so sad." Syaoran gently pulled away from her with a smile.

He already knew that he worried Sakura-san, had always worried her since the moment they met. Just like Syaoran already knew that he was healthy or strong enough to fight equally beside Nii-san. Ever. But if he could do anything to help his brother, even the smallest thing, then Syaoran was willing to try. He had another reason for fighting too, though.

Maybe it was silly….and probably unnecessary since Nii-san was strong enough for the three of them. But Syaoran wanted to be strong for Sakura-san. If he fought a lot then maybe he would eventually be so strong that Sakura-san wouldn't worry about him anymore. He had always been the weakest of the three and though he accepted his inferiority next to his brother, Syaoran couldn't accept being too weak to do anything if Sakura-san ever needed him. Especially since she was putting her life on the line by keeping an eye on Fay-san for them.....

"Sakura looks pretty today, doesn't she?" Li commented as they walked through the Valley.

"V-very," Syaoran shyly agreed. "Though…she always does. She's much too beautiful to be an ordinary human, don't you think?"

Li just grinned. "I just wish she didn't speak to Kurogane without mentioning it to us first. She's already in a dangerous situation because she's so close to Fay. I asked her to stay with us for awhile so she could put some time between her and Kurogane but she's much too stubborn to listen to me."

"....do you really think she's in that much danger, Nii-san?"

"I don't know. But I wish she would stay near us all the same…"

Syaoran blushed and dropped his eyes. "Me too."

"They really made a mess this time. We'll have to spend most of tomorrow trying to fix the damage. 33 miles of destruction and blood..."

Syaoran raised his eyes as his brother spoke and looked to the chaos the Shattered Ones had caused. Usually him and his brother would be out all day to make sure this didn't happen but because Sakura had come to visit they had stayed with her during the morning. A whole building, one of the only four that had remained, was toppled and bodies were thrown about the debris. Syaoran knelt by the third person on the trail and checked for a pulse. "These people are all still alive, Nii-san," he said softly. "Someone was just out for blood again."

"And still is by the look of it. 33 miles isn't enough. They won't be satisfied until they make the Valley red." Li nodded up ahead to where people were gathered. "Even if only half of each person here is responsible it still makes me angry. Having to live with another soul for your whole life! Wouldn't you want to conquer it?! It's like all these people just let their other half walk over them…I can't stand that."

"Maybe some of them try to control the other but they're just not strong enough," Syaoran said with a frown.

Nii-san's eyes flickered to his face. "How's your wrist? Is it worse from the fight just now?"

"No. It's better."

"I'm going to take the main one out. I'm guessing it's the guy in the middle." Li blinked. "Girl in the middle, actually."

Syaoran squinted. "What? How can you tell?"

"Well, her clothes are falling off and it's usually women who have breas--"

"N-Nii-san!" Syaoran waved his hands and blushed to make his brother stop. "I-I get it!"

"Regardless of who it is…" Li easily summoned his sword from his hand. "She has to be stopped before she hurts herself anymore."

Syaoran started coughing but managed to nod in agreement. He tried to discreetly wipe the blood that had come from his mouth onto his new jeans but he knew that Nii-san saw it. Syaoran blushed. "S-so I'll take any others then?"

He hesitated, still eying him. "...Yeah. She seems to be the main one but it looks like there's more who want to fight. Be careful, Syaoran," he said seriously. "People look small and harmless but their souls are malicious."

"I know, Nii-san." Syaoran smiled and rubbed his grotesquely bruised neck. "And I have all the scares and lost blood to prove it."

Li wasn't smiling. "Just be careful," he repeated softly.

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End file.
